I've been playing this game for about a week now. I just discovered AngryJoe on youtube and love all his stuff so here's his review (probably spoilers):

Here's a wall of text I did on Gamespot if you feel like reading:

Far Cry 3 improved on a lot of things wrong with Far Cry 2, but at the same time it lost a lot of the things that made Far Cry great. It all evens out, though. Instead of a coherent review, allow me to just throw out itemized thoughts as they surface.

A lot of what FC3 lost has to do with realism. FC2 tried to be as non-game-like as possible. FC3 sacrificed realism for functionality.

For starters: gone are the realistic environments of FC2. In place are the overly colorful and Willy Wonka-esque vibrancy of FC3. Things look "prettier" now, but real life isn't pretty. I don't walk outside my apartment and become blinded with the luscious hues of greens, blues, and reds. Life is mostly dull colors; the grays of the asphalt, the lifeless brown of dirt, contrasted occasionally by a beautiful sun peeking behind a cloud. FC3 looks like an artist's rendition of what life would look like in a Dr Seuss world.

Along with realism lost are the guns. FC2 had rusty, disposable guns that jammed and served one purpose; killing. FC3 has customizable camos and colored reticles that seemed to be aimed toward the CoD fanboys. You even get bonus XP for headshots. Realism lost.

The "capture towers" for a bird's eye view followed by a dramatic exit is stolen from Assassin's Creed but is still a nice addition.

The "skin random animals for pelts and leather" is stolen from Red Dead Redemption, and is great fun until you've crafted everything. Then the skins are only used for small amounts of money... money that you will never need since guns become free and loot is found everywhere. The poker mini-game is also from RDR, but not as well done. There is no discussion amongst players and your player appears to have a neck problem, looking way too far right or left with a slight movement of the mouse.

Another realism lost is the addition of the "leaving mission zone" feature. I hate this concept. In FC2 you could come and go as you pleased, getting close to the mission area but deciding to check back later... just like real life. In a non-time specific mission, why would it matter that you ran "too far away" from the area?

Instead of a handheld device to check your map and objectives (realism), FC3 goes more mainstream quest game oriented, with giant, hard to miss icons plastering your "map" which is glued to your eyeballs and so is permanently stuck on your screen.

With any open-world, choose your own strategy game, I prefer to quick save and quick load a lot. I like to do different things, then reload and try other techniques just for fun. But for the first half of this game, I thought there was no quick save. This is because every FPS in the known world uses the F5 button, but FC3 decided to go with F9? And then not tell us about it? The only way I discovered this is because the forums are littered with this issue.

As far as animals go, shark attacks are awesome, alligators are awesome, except does some random guy REALLY have to get eaten every time there's an alligator in the area? The animals are also a bit too overpowered. I bent down to loot some guy and a giant bird headbutted me twice from behind, killing me before I could turn around... and I had 4 full health bars.

Speaking of looting, in FC2 you could interact with anything really easily. Just run anywhere near it and press a button. With FC3, you have to angle yourself just right and be just the perfect distance away for the prompt to appear. You can hold down E and move around, but "switch weapon, loot, and interact" and all done with E. So if a guy dies near a vehicle, you may find yourself swapping guns and climbing into the driver's seat before you actually loot him.

Couple of random goods: the weed mission + soundtrack was awesome, the shrooms trip was awesome, and Vaas is one of the best characters I've seen in years.

Couple of random bads: I never found a need to use custom syringes (and the plants were freaking everywhere). Jason can't seem to handle 5 foot drops from ledges without losing health and breaking a bone or two. Can I get a freaking marker on my map for dead bodies? I constantly kill an animal from a distance, run over to where I thought the body was, and have to look around in bushes for a softly blinking body until I find that it slid down the cliff... or give up completely on finding it.

Couple more random bads: the vehicles drive like a pontoon boat lost in a hurricane and slide around like somebody buttered your tires. Enemies are magicians with guns and will consistently hit you from 500 yards out even though you're doing evasive sprinting through thick shrubbery on a cloudy day at midnight. When you catch on fire, you first have to stand there and stare at the fire burn your arm before you get the option of putting it out.

The game is buggy and will remind you of your objective every minute or two, and if you do a side quest or a hunt and your main quest has to become your main objective again, it will basically restart (meaning you will make and receive the same phone call every time it switches back to the objective).

Finally, I hate the menu. It looks crappy, it's littered with high scores and website material (again removing me from the realism involvement) and it lacks a lot of shortcuts. Maybe I just haven't found a way yet, but if you want to sell your plants and skins, you have to double click each individual item, then confirm sale... over and over for all 30+ skins. And hitting the escape key doesn't bring you back to the game. It takes you back one sub-menu. And you can be like 5 sub-menus deep, having to spam escape to resume.

So great game, but a single patch could fix a lot of these problems (please fix the loot distance/angle thing).

9/10

What do you fuckers think?

"Ain't got no last words to say, yellow streak right up my spine. The gun in my mouth was real and the taste blew my mind."

"We see you cry. We turn your head. Then we slap your face. We see you try. We see you fail. Some things never change."

I have just purchased a copy of this about an hour ago for the 360. I didnt really rate the campaign of FC2 so im hoping this one is better. Im also hoping the map editor is an improved version of FC2s for mulitplayer.

For no matter how much I use these symbols, to describe symptoms of my existence.
You are your own emphasis.
So I say nothing.

I wasn't super keen on Far Cry 2, but honestly I don't remember how much of a chance I gave it.

There's tons wrong with this game I'm not gonna lie, but it's working for me. I've almost got everything already, all the cards, all of the letters, almost all of the rune statues. The "story" missions are really lame, but I've almost done them all. For people who haven't played the game I'm not referring to the actual main quest when I say story missions, that's just what they call the side missions for some reason.

I had to get used to the bobbing and weaving because it was making me nauseous at first since everything is done in first person, but I'm used to it now, and I don't even notice it.

I enjoy the shooting and the way the main character starts out not being able to do much more than basic point and shoot and he starts getting bad ass skills gradually over time. I love some of those skills as well. The takedowns are sweet, and I was super relieved once I unlocked the heavy takedown.

There are some little annoyances that I find more irritating than the bigger ones other gamers might take issue with. I hate getting stuck on a tiny ledge. It's fucking annoying. And one thing that drives me nuts every other second on the map is unscalable hills. Bullshit. I could climb those hills, Jason is a ninja, but he gets stuck on tiny ledges and slippery hills. Bullshit.

Haven't beat it yet but that's only because I went through and did all the towers and bases first. I have only done two missions on the second island.

I really like it.

"I think of myself as an intelligent, sensitive human being with the soul of a clown which always forces me to blow it at the most important moments." -Jim Morrison

I haven't played it myself, but I've been watching a guy on Youtube (theRadBrad) play walkthroughs for about a month now. He got an advanced copy of the game because he works for some software company and it's literally his job to do walkthroughs of games.

Anyway, I'm addicted to the videos. The game looks awesome as hell (though it's not without its flaws), and Vaas has got my vote for best video game villain of the year. The voice acting and animation of his character are superbly chilling.

TheRadBrad is fucking hilarious. I found him through Far Cry 3, and that's what made me want the game. Now I've watched a good chunk of the guys videos. The best are his horror games because he's such a baby.

"I think of myself as an intelligent, sensitive human being with the soul of a clown which always forces me to blow it at the most important moments." -Jim Morrison

I have delved only ever so slightly into the campaign and from what I have seen I have liked it (just got past the mission where you trip on shrooms, so im still early on in it) I can see why people have said they have stole many elements from other games, however these elements are what made those games awesome and Ubisoft have just combined them together.

Im more into multiplayer myself and FC3 online is awesome. The game modes are nothing new and transmission reminds me vaguely of "headquartes" on black ops.

The premade maps are quite balanced but where FC3 comes into its own is in the map editor. I cant understand why more multiplayer games dont try to add this element. I have spent quite a few hours crafting my own map and have played on some awesome creations up to now.

For no matter how much I use these symbols, to describe symptoms of my existence.
You are your own emphasis.
So I say nothing.